The Wisconsin Food Administration responds to national food shortages in 1918

Although most people associate rationing with the Second World War, state and federal ration programs were first implemented in World War I--many of which were pioneered in Wisconsin. Wisconsin became the first state to organize both state and county-level Councils of Defense which helped to educate citizens about the war and necessary sacrifices. As an agricultural state, Wisconsin's State Council of Defense was particularly interested in solving the national food crisis that developed in 1917. Council chairman Magnus Swenson began vigorously promoting food conservation through the cultivation of home gardens and institution of meatless and wheatless days. When Congress appointed Herbert Hoover to lead the newly formed federal Food Administration, Hoover not only adopted many of Swenson's policies but also made Swenson the the food administrator of Wisconsin. These documents, released by the Wisconsin Food Administration in March and April of 1918, report on the varying efforts at conservation both in Wisconsin and also nationally, as Wisconsin citizens responded to shortages.